Transcription
Wow. Special counsel Jack Smith has finally surfaced, and he is turning the tables on Donald Trump, getting his revenge. He gave an interview with our friend Nicole Wallace on MS Now, and he was calling out Donald Trump for destroying the Justice Department. He was calling out Donald Trump for attacking the rule of law. Let me show you here. A special counsel Jack Smith declares that the United States of America is now facing the greatest attack on the rule of law in our nation's history as we approach America's 250th. Here. Play this clip.
>> You lied.
>> Yeah. Well, you know, I was a career prosecutor. I worked in the Justice Department and other prosecutor's offices for near on 30 years. And, uh, I don't know if your viewers know this, but I work in Republican and Democratic administrations over and over. I was the acting US attorney, uh, in the first Trump administration in Nashville, Tennessee. And that administration appointed me, um, to a position running a war crimes tribunal for the State Department. Uh, so I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and the law throughout my career. We did this case the same way under the same standards. And, you know, the thing that's, I think, important for your viewers to know is those standards are not meant to change from one administration to the next. And in my experience, until now, they haven't. Uh, and so, you know, I think we are facing an attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime. And one of the reasons I wanted to be with you here today, uh, in advance of the 4th of July, celebrating the birth of a country that we all love, is to celebrate the public servants who do this work. The people I spent my career working shoulder-to-shoulder with. Um, I loved being a prosecutor, and part of it was, I love being around these sort of people, and, uh, it angers me to see them victimized, uh, to see them demonized for doing their jobs. Uh, I think it's really important that we stand up for them and let them know that there are a lot of people out there who back them and who are with them. And that's not just the people who've been targeted and fired for no reason for doing their jobs. It's also the people still in the Justice Department today. Uh, there are a lot of good career prosecutors who right now are working under incredibly difficult circumstances. Uh, and they're still trying to do the right thing. And, uh, these are not self-promoters. These are not people who are going to go out and, uh, you know, crow about their achievements. Uh, we need to, uh, hold them up and celebrate them because they're part of what makes this country great.
>> Some of the
Jack Smith then talked about how he travels around the country and even the world. People come up to him all the time, and he said, by and large, even if people disagree with me, people actually care about ethics. They care about the facts. Some people are misinformed, he said, in this political climate that we live in. He said, but, you know, you'd be surprised that by and large, people want justice and accountability, and the key is just getting people accurate info. Play this clip.
>> Do you think we still have a common definition of integrity?
>> I, I think we, I think we do, but I, I also, for me personally, if I'm going to have that discussion, like I said, I, I travel around and I go to places where people don't expect me to be. I, I do, uh, events, athletic events where I travel, and I'll be in like rural areas or different parts of our country, and people will come up and talk.
>> Endurance sporting events, right?
>> Yeah. I do ride bikes, things like that. But I, I go out in these places and I talk to different people. People come up to me, and it's, it's interesting because they don't expect me to be there.
>> And I have to say, the vast majority of people are really appreciative of, of my service and the service of our team. But even when they're not, um, if you engage in a discussion with people and you're open to hearing them and not just kind of telling them what you think, I, I actually do think that people agree that integrity is a good thing.
>> Do they believe that the crimes that, do they, do they believe the facts? I mean, do, do they ask you about the cases you brought, and do they believe you?
>> Well, it, it depends on who you're talking about, but often the people who are more skeptical know less about the facts. And I think one of the things, uh, that's hard for me in this process is, you know, I'm a facts guy. Facts matter. Um, really big on that. And, uh, and, you know, when you go in a courtroom, that's all that matters, right?
>> And so, and you know that you're going to get your turn to present the facts, and then they can present theirs, and there's a process.
>> Um, how we communicate with each other right now. It's very hard to do that. It's very foreign to someone like me who was raised as a prosecutor. Do your talking in the courtroom, not on the courtroom steps. And, uh, I think that's harder because a lot of the people, I think, who, uh, have resistance to what we do, they just not versed in, in the facts. And, you know, not everybody wants to read a 100 whatever page report. I get it.
>> Um, but I think, you know, this goes to the DOJ going forward. My view is that going forward, I, I think we can't get away from the issues of integrity and doing things the right way and facts and law. But I also think people like me who kind of were raised on that and know that we got to start listening more to people who know how to communicate and, and choose to communicate more innovative ways because a lot of the people that I bump into and talk to, um, no one's tried to communicate with them. No one's tried to give them the facts in a way that's actually easy for them to digest. And so, you know, very foreign to a courtroom guy like me.
>> Uh, but I think it's a, a step that we got to be talking about.
Special counsel Jack Smith then talks about how the Justice Department has essentially become paralyzed at this point. It can't do its work at all under the Trump regime. The presumption of regularity has been destroyed by the Trump regime. Federal judges from both sides of the aisle, appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, are calling out the Trump regime DOJ. Jackson says, "Once you lose that trust capital, you're over." Here, play this clip.
>> Like Paul Weiss and others. What do you make of the damage they're doing to our democracy at a moment you describe as dire?
>> Yeah. Well, I think one of the problems, uh, I mean, there's several layers, right? One of the problems right today, besides the, the retribution prosecutions, is that the Justice Department can't do its job. Right. If you go to court, explain that. Well, if you go to court and the judges don't trust you, you can't do the basic things that you need to do to represent the American people in court. And we have seen judges across the country, uh, say they can't trust prosecutors anymore. And that has such a cascading effect on any sort of case. Uh, and, you know, I can't count how many opinions, but one opinion like that in my career would have been seismic. People could not, would not know what to do if a court said, you know, trust that's been built over generations has been lost in days, right? And that's happening every day. And so regardless of what you think politically, they're just not effective at doing their job anymore. They've jettisoned expertise, right? And so we have a situation where we've got rid of people who know how to protect our national security, and we think that that's somehow not going to have an effect on our national security. Uh, you know, an example I can give you, uh, Brian Driscoll. I don't know if you know who he is. He, he was the
>> He made a great video at the beginning, um, to kind of rally the troops, it seemed from the outside.
>> Yeah. I mean, he's a folk hero in the FBI. If you were casting for
>> A hero, right?
>> That's what they look like, right?
>> Um, and, and just for, for your viewers, uh, this is a guy, career agent, you know, mob investigator, SWAT team, hostage rescue, served overseas, medal of valor, bravery medals, all these things, and an expert in counterintelligence. They got rid of him because he stood up for agents who were being targeted improperly. You can't tell me. You cannot tell me our country is as safe as it was when people like that are being let go and fired for no reason.
Special counsel Jack Smith talks about an example from when he resigned as special counsel. He goes, "Look, I had to hire lawyers. The Trump regime is threatening to throw me in prison, so I hire a law firm." And boom, the Trump regime immediately goes after that law firm. Let's play this clip.
>> You know, I, I can't really comment on other people's choices. I, I would say,
>> Would it help?
>> Well, I, I think my perspective on this is that in the moment we're in, which is a pretty dire moment, right? What we're facing, that we should be uplifting the people who are doing the right thing. And, you know, I'll give you an example from, from my life. I resign as special counsel. Uh, I know I need to get a lawyer because the president has said he wants to jail me, uh, for doing my job. And so I retain lawyers, Covington and Burling. Uh, as soon as that becomes public, the president and the Justice Department target that law firm, and they do it because they don't want me to have counsel. They don't want to rep, have anyone represent me. And what happened next was the very day that happened, Nicole, the lawyers at the firm called me up and said, "Jack, don't worry about it. We're there for you." They did not blink for a second. And as you know, that's very different than how some other law firms behaved. I think we should focus on things like that, is separating a firm like Covington and Burling from other ones that didn't show courage to come forward.
>> Well, right. The ones
Former special counsel Jack Smith talks about how, you know, a lot of prosecutors that he knows, they don't want to be involved in these Trump retribution cases. Let's play this clip.
From my limited exposure to people in DOJ and the FBI from my time in government is they don't really want to go do other things. They want this to be their life's work, protecting the country's national security. Um, will you talk a little bit about the, the price people have paid who have been purged for political purposes?
Yeah, I mean, you know, a lot of the agents and prosecutors I've worked with, and, and to be clear, not just in the special counsel's office, uh, but throughout my career in a bunch of different positions I've had in the Justice Department, uh, this is the culmination of what they wanted to do. It's why they went to law school. Uh, and it's their way of, of serving our country. And we've seen so many times in these, uh, retribution cases where prosecutors wouldn't be a part of it. You know, prosecutors in Minnesota who are like, I'm not going to investigate the family member of a shooting victim. I'm not doing that. Um, prosecutors who wouldn't go through with, uh, retribution, um, prosecutions, and those people give up a lot. This is their whole career. A lot of them, you know, this isn't a lucrative, uh, sort of profession for a lawyer in terms of what, uh, you could do in private practice. Um, they have to support their families. And one thing I have hope about is I, I think the traditions in the department, the people at DOJ are so strong, um, that we're going to have to rehabilitate the department for sure. But there's a lot of people still there, still in place, wanting to do the right thing, wanting to follow the facts in the law, not be a part of any retribution campaign. Uh, and I think for me, one of the things I see as I go around and talk to folks, and I try to travel around the country a lot and see different people and talk to different perspectives about this, is that those people, it really matters to them if they know they're being supported. Part of this campaign is to make people feel like isolated and feel like they don't have people backing them up. And so I just think it's really important. I want to express my support. I think everybody else should express their support. Um, it's not, it's something with meaning, and it's also something that matters.
>> I mean, Chris Ray was
He then talks about the Trump regime pardoning January 6th insurrectionists. I'll show you this right here.
>> The bureau again someday. What do you say about the facts that you developed that you see? I know you don't watch a ton of news, but that you see enough to know that the, the, the basic principle of recidivism likely applies to the election case. The things that you charge are a lot of the same kinds of stories we cover. What is the cost of someone not being held accountable for their crimes?
>> Yeah. I mean, if talk about the pardons of these, these, uh, people convicted for the violence on January 6th, right? There's all sorts of costs. Um, there's the obvious cost of just recidivism. Um, these are people who committed their crimes in the name and in the interest of Donald Trump, and he's returned the favor, right, by pardoning them. Uh, that sends one message to them. A, a message I'm equally concerned about is the message that it sends to law enforcement. Um, supporting law enforcement should not be a political issue. It should not be a Republican, Democrat, red blue thing. And when I see people like Harry, uh, Harry Dunn, who was here before, uh, who put his life on the line to protect others, and seeing him be smeared and vilified, uh, I don't understand that. That is, and I think more people who understand the actual facts of that, I don't think most people are okay with that. Um, it's deeply wrong, and I, I have a concern because we've seen that sort of thing in the incentives it's set up. What do you make of
>> Then, Nicole Wallace asks, "So, do you expect to be indicted in Jack Smith?" I don't worry about that. I got to live the life I live every damn day, and I'm going to keep on fighting for the rule of law. I don't worry about his threats, but I do worry about this country, and I'm going to devote and dedicate my life to making sure that the rule of law is protected. Here, play this clip.
>> I don't want to see, uh, people run from public service because of that possibility.
>> Do you expect to be indicted?
>> Listen, I, Donald Trump has made a bunch of statements.
>> He said he would indict you. Yes.
>> I'll tell you, Nicole, I honestly do not spend a lot of time thinking about the things he says about me and his threats about me. Um, I'm real focused on the people who I worked with, looking out for them. I'm real focused on how the Justice Department's going to be better going forward, things like that. In my situation, I did my job the right way. I had an all-star team. I mean, Nicole, the agents on my case, if I were to walk you through all the awards they've won throughout, you know, generations of administrations, we would be here all night. These were superstars. And I'm much more concerned that those people, um, get to serve in the department, get to serve in the bureau again someday.
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